Isaiah 49:6

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹  of Israel? ² 

I will make you a light to the nations, ³ 

so you can bring ⁴  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Isaiah 52:15

52:15 his form was so marred he no longer looked human ⁵  –

so now ⁶  he will startle ⁷  many nations.

Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, ⁸ 

for they will witness something unannounced to them,

and they will understand something they had not heard about.

Isaiah 55:4-5

55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, ⁹ 

a ruler and commander of nations.”

55:5 Look, you will summon nations ¹⁰  you did not previously know;

nations ¹¹  that did not previously know you will run to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, ¹² 

for he bestows honor on you.

Matthew 20:16

20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Matthew 22:9-10

22:9 So go into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 22:10 And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all they found, both bad and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

Luke 14:23

14:23 So ¹³  the master said to his ¹⁴  slave, ‘Go out to the highways ¹⁵  and country roads ¹⁶  and urge ¹⁷  people ¹⁸  to come in, so that my house will be filled. ¹⁹ 

Luke 14:1

Healing Again on the Sabbath

14:1 Now ²⁰  one Sabbath when Jesus went to dine ²¹  at the house of a leader ²²  of the Pharisees, ²³  they were watching ²⁴  him closely.

Luke 4:19

4:19 to proclaim the year ²⁵  of the Lord’s favor.” ²⁶ 

[49:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ² sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ³ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[52:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “and his form from the sons of men.” The preposition מִן (min) here carries the sense “away from,” i.e., “so as not to be.”

[52:15]  ⁶ tn This statement completes the sentence begun in v. 14a. The introductory כֵּן (ken) answers to the introductory כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher) of v. 14a. Verses 14b-15a are parenthetical, explaining why many were horrified.

[52:15]  ⁷ tn Traditionally the verb יַזֶּה (yazzeh, a Hiphil stem) has been understood as a causative of נָזָה (nazah, “spurt, spatter”) and translated “sprinkle.” In this case the passage pictures the servant as a priest who “sprinkles” (or spiritually cleanses) the nations. Though the verb נָזָה does occur in the Hiphil with the meaning “sprinkle,” the usual interpretation is problematic. In all other instances where the object or person sprinkled is indicated, the verb is combined with a preposition. This is not the case in Isaiah 52:15, unless one takes the following עָלָיו (’alayv, “on him”) with the preceding line. But then one would have to emend the verb to a plural, make the nations the subject of the verb “sprinkle,” and take the servant as the object. Consequently some interpreters doubt the cultic idea of “sprinkling” is present here. Some emend the text; others propose a homonymic root meaning “spring, leap,” which in the Hiphil could mean “cause to leap, startle” and would fit the parallelism of the verse nicely.

[52:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “Because of him kings will shut their mouths,” i.e., be speechless.

[55:4]  ⁹ sn Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness (cf. Pss 18:50 HT [18:49 ET]; 22:28 HT [22:27 ET]). See J. H. Eaton, Kingship in the Psalms (SBT), 182-84.

[55:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs in the next line indicate (note that both “know” and “run” are third plural forms).

[55:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a nation,” but the singular is collective here, as the plural verbs that follow indicate.

[55:5]  ¹² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[14:23]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the master’s response to the slave’s report.

[14:23]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[14:23]  ¹⁵ sn Go out to the highways and country roads. This suggests the inclusion of people outside the town, even beyond the needy (poor, crippled, blind, and lame) in the town, and so is an allusion to the inclusion of the Gentiles.

[14:23]  ¹⁶ tn The Greek word φραγμός (fragmo") refers to a fence, wall, or hedge surrounding a vineyard (BDAG 1064 s.v. 1). “Highways” and “country roads” probably refer not to separate places, but to the situation outside the town where the rural roads run right alongside the hedges or fences surrounding the fields (cf. J. A. Fitzmyer, Luke [AB], 1057).

[14:23]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally “force” or “compel,” but according to BDAG 60 s.v. ἀναγκάζω 2 this is a weakened nuance: “strongly urge/invite.” The meaning in this context is more like “persuade.”

[14:23]  ¹⁸ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[14:23]  ¹⁹ sn So that my house will be filled. God will bless many people.

[14:1]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Now it happened that one.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[14:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “to eat bread,” an idiom for participating in a meal.

[14:1]  ²² tn Grk “a ruler of the Pharisees.” He was probably a synagogue official.

[14:1]  ²³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.

[14:1]  ²⁴ sn Watching…closely is a graphic term meaning to lurk and watch; see Luke 11:53-54.

[4:19]  ²⁵ sn The year of the Lord’s favor (Grk “the acceptable year of the Lord”) is a description of the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:10). The year of the total forgiveness of debt is now turned into a metaphor for salvation. Jesus had come to proclaim that God was ready to forgive sin totally.

[4:19]  ²⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 61:1-2a. Within the citation is a line from Isa 58:6, with its reference to setting the oppressed free.